It's one of six settlements being rebuilt with state funds in a pilot program.
The aim is to develop the skills and experience needed for wide-scale reconstruction after the war.
Trostianets is barely 20 miles from the Russian border and was badly damaged in fighting almost two years ago.
Mayor Yuriy Bova says if life isn't breathed back into towns, there's a risk millions of Ukrainians could settle permanently abroad instead of redeveloping their country.
And seeing the destruction every day traumatizes people, he says.
"Today, we're fighting for every person who should return; for every child who needs to return and build their future here. Our boys are fighting for these people. Not for an abstract purpose, for them and for the future of this country. But it's impossible to imagine a country without its population, or with an active population that has moved abroad, leaving only elderly women. That can't happen. So we have to do it today, and this example is the one that will probably start bringing people back."
But the war shows no signs of abating.
So not everyone thinks the drive is a priority.
In the nearby town of Okhtyrka, Antonina Dmytrychenko says people are saving every last dime to support the armed forces. "Victory, first and foremost," she says.
Okhtyrka's mayor, Pavlo Kuzmenko, has publicly criticized the way Trostianets is being rebuilt.
"I was glad that Trostianets was chosen. But I was convinced it was people's homes that were going to be rebuilt, and critical infrastructure; not the central square and a road built two years ago. There is enough to rebuild, the square and its beauty can be restored after the war."
The different views in the neighboring towns reflect a broader debate in Ukraine about wartime spending.
A growing grassroots protest movement is demanding that authorities shelve projects such as sprucing up streets and public spaces in favor of funding the military.
In a sign of the tension, officials in the Odesa region canceled more than $9 million of tenders late last year, saying spending on road repairs, the renovation of a stadium and software was "unacceptable" in wartime.
